Antonio Faccilongo

Habibi

Best Color Documentary work.

Gomma Grant 2016 Best Color Documentary work.

"Habibi is the story of Palestinian prisoners' wives who have turned to sperm smuggling in order to conceive children through in vitro fertilization (IVF) from their husbands who are serving long-term sentences. In the past 3 years, when these women started to do it, 60 babies have been born.
There are around 7,000 Palestinians, classified as security prisoners, facing sentences of 25 years or more.

Conjugal visits are denied, Palestinian prisoners see their immediate family for just 45 minutes every two weeks, if at all. While kept physically separated from visiting spouses and adults, inmates can play with their children for ten minutes at the end of each session. During these short visitations, some of the men have smuggled sperm to their wives.

Women in the "Ivf" program believe that one day the prisoners will be released, and when they do return home, they should have a family waiting for them. Combined with what there is a cultural belief that wives are not able to cope with everyday life alone, this notion encourages them to take such measures to become pregnant.

Furthermore they felt that becoming pregnant while her husband was imprisoned would help continue the Palestinian resistance." GF